Agricultural  and  Indus- 
trial Progress  Depends 
upon  Prosperous 
Railroads 


An  Address 

Before  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Anderson,  South 
Carolina,  February  24,  1914. 


By 

FAIRFAX  HARRISON 

President,  Southern  Railway  Company 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/agriculturalinduOOharr 


16  1932 

i?.  ^ •> 


AGRICULTURAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS  DEPENDS 
UPON  PROSPEROUS  RAILROADS. 

Anderson  and  Anderson  County  typify  the  Progressive  South.  Here 
agricultural  progress  'and  manufacturing  development  are  advancing  side 
by  side.  In  what  is,  in  many  respects,  the  leading  agricultural  county  in 
South  Carolina  and  in  the  entire  Piedmont  Section  you  have  one  of  the 
most  important  manufacturing  developments  in  the  South.  Anderson 
County  is  far  from  being  the  largest  in  South  Carolina  in  land  area,  but 
the  census  of  1910  showed  that  the  value  of  farm  property  in  this  county 
exceeded  $24,000,000.00,  and  amounted  to  about  one-sixteenth  of  the  total 
value  of  farm  property  in  the  State.  Taking  the  average  for  a series 
of  years  Anderson  is  the  leading  county  in  South  Carolina  in  cotton  pro- 
duction. It  ranks  high  in  the  production  of  cereals  and  forage  crops 
and  is  the  first  county  in  the  State  in  the  value  of  live  stock. 

Your  agricultural  development  alone  would  make  this  a prosperous 
community,  but  in  addition  to  your  agricultural  wealth,  Anderson  County 
ranks  second  among  all  the  counties  of  the  State  in  textile  manufacturing. 
The  economic  advantage  of  the  location  of  a cotton,  mill  in  proximity  to 
a cotton  field  was  early  appreciated  by  the  people  of  this  county,  and,  in 
the  relatively  few  years  since  the  construction  of  the  first  mill  at  Pelzer 
in  the  early  80’s,  you  have  built  18  mills  in  the  county — 11  of  them  in 
the  city  of  Anderson — and  the  annual  value  of  their  product  is  in  excess 
of  $14,000,000.00. 

Thus  far  the  industrial  development  of  Anderson  has  been  very 
1 largely  in  connection  with  the  textile  industry.  Mark  Twain  once  re- 
versed the  old  adage  about  not  putting  all  of  your  eggs  in  one  basket 
by  saying  something  to  the  effect  that  it  was  the  best  policy  to  put  your 
( eggs  in  one  basket  and  watch  that  basket.  Without  disputing  the  wisdom 
of  this,  as  applied  to  the  individual,  I do  not  think  that  it  is  the  best 
I policy  for  a community,  for  the  reason  that  it  makes  community  pros- 
perity depend  upon  the  vicissitudes  of  a single  industry.  I believe,  there- 
fore, that  it  should  be  the  aim  of  commercial  organizations  in  our  South- 
ern cities  and  towns  to  encourage  as  far  as  practicable  the  diversification 
of  industries.  Conditions  at  Anderson  are  favorable  for  a diversified 
industrial  development.  You  have  hard  wood  forests  near  at  hand  and 
' are  not  far  distant  from  supplies  of  iron  and  steel.  You  have  cheap 
power  and  a climate  which,  by  reason  of  its  mild  winters  and  its  freedom 


from  the  excessive  summer  heat  of  many  more  northern  localities,  is 
conducive  to  the  efficiency  of  labor.  I know  that  the  members  of  this 
Chamber  of  Commerce  are  alive  to  the  importance  of  these  advantages, 
and  I confidently  predict  that  the  future  will  wifness  the  continued  in- 
dustrial growth  of  Anderson,  not  only  in  the  textile  industry,  but  along 
the  line  of  a wider  diversification  of  manufacturing. 

The  splendid  agricultural  and  industrial  development  of  Anderson 
and  Anderson  County  is  founded  upon  the  natural  advantages  of  this 
locality,  but  great  as  these  advantages  are,  they  would  have  been  of  little 
avail  without  transportation.  But  for  a means  of  concentration  of  raw 
cotton  at  the  mills  and  the  carriage  of  manufactured  goods  to  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world  there  would  never  have  been  a cotton  mill  built  in 
Anderson  County,  and  but  for  a means  of  carrying  the  cotton  crop  of 
the  county  to  market  it  would  be  absolutely  without  value.  The  present 
agricultural  and  industrial  prosperity  of  Anderson  County  has  thus 
been  made  possible  by  rail  transportation,  and  your  continued  progress 
will  be  dependent  upon  the  ability  of  your  railways  efficiently  to  handle 
the  increased  tonnage  which  you  will  produce. 

Anderson  has  had  the  advantages  of  rail  transportation  since  the 
completion  of  the  line  of  the  Greenville  and  Columbia  Railroad  to  this 
place  in  1853.  The  Greenville  and  Columbia  Railroad  Company  pro- 
posed to  take  over  the  ambitious  project  abandoned  in  1844  by  the  Louis- 
ville, Cincinnati  and  Charleston  Railroad  Company,  and  to  complete  a 
trunk  line  from  Charleston  to  the  West  by  way  of  Rabun  Gap,  making 
Anderson  the  point  of  departure  for  new  construction  at  the  eastern 
end.  Work  was  undertaken  and  the  road  was  completed  and  put  in 
operation  from  Anderson  to  Walhalla  in  1861,  when  the  war  between  the 
States  put  an  end  to  further  construction.  Since  then  the  people  of 
Anderson  have  very  properly  desired  the  resumption  of  work  along  the 
line  of  this  original  project  and  the  construction  of  the  gaps  that  would 
make  the  Blue  Ridge  Road  a part  of  a through  line  from  the  Atlantic 
Seaboard  to  the  West.  In  the  meantime,  however,  you  have  achieved  the 
real  purpose  of  your  plan,  for  you  have  a direct  road  to  the  West  along 
substantially  the  line  of  the  original  project  of  the  Louisville,  Cincinnati 
and  Charleston.  I have  just  come  from  Cincinnati  to  Anderson  over  that 
line  in  three  days  and  have  spent  24  hours  at  Asheville  en  route.  You  are 
soon  to  have  another  through  line  to  the  West  in  the  northern  extension  of 
the  Carolina,  Clinchfield  and  Ohio.  Anderson  thus  has  efficient  rail  trans- 
portation to  the  West,  but  other  lines  are  still  desirable,  and  old  plans  are 


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generally  good  plans.  The  extension  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Road,  so  as  to 
make  it  a part  of  a through  line  to  Knoxville  and  the  West,  has  not  been 
abandoned.  The  advantages  to  be  derived  from  its  construction  are  fully 
realized.  All  that  restrains  us  from  entering  upon  the  work  is  the  evi- 
dent responsibility  to  make  our  existing  railroads  better  railroads  before 
we  undertake  new  railroads.  Under  present  conditions  surrounding  the 
raising  of  new  capital  for  railway  enterprises  it  is  necessary  that  railway 
managers  shall  consider  most  carefully  what  is  the  vital  relative  impor- 
tance of  the  many  projects  calling  for  the  expenditure  of  money. 
Anderson  is  at  present  supplied  with  railway  facilities  in  every  direc- 
tion, as  I have  already  pointed  out.  Your  continued  progress  is  dependent 
upon  the  ability  of  the  railways  to  carry  to  market  your  increasing  volume 
of  traffic,  which,  important  as  it  is,  is  only  a small  part  of  the  great  and 
constantly  growing  traffic  of  the  South.  The  volume  of  Southern  traffic 
is  increasing  at  a more  rapid  rate  than  the  railroads  of  the  South  have 
been  able  to  add  to  their  facilities.  Under  these  circumstances,  I believe 
that  it  is  more  important  to  the  people  of  Anderson  that,  for  the  immedi- 
ate future,  the  railways  by  which  they  are  served  shall  devote  their  re- 
sources to  increasing  and  improving  facilities  on  their  existing  lines 
rather  than  consider  new  construction.  With  your  large  and  constantly 
growing  business,  you  are  interested  in  the  efficiency  of  rail  transportation 
over  the  entire  South. 

It  is  natural  that  people  of  any  locality  shall  fully  appreciate 
the  importance  and  desirability  of  railroad  disbursements  and  im- 
provements in  their  own  immlediate  neighborhood.  The  railroad 
manager  must  take  a broader  view!.  He  must  consider  the  system 
as  a whole  in  relation  to  available  resources  and  give  precedence 
to  those  betterments  that  will  most  facilitate  the  movement  of  its  traffic 
as  a whole.  In  taking  this  broad  view  he  may,  at  times,  in  the  true  and 
larger  interest  of  the  people  of  a community,  run  counter  to  local  opinion. 
The  ability  of  your  railroads  to  do  what  you  would  like  to  have  them 
do  and  to  do  what  their  managers  would  most  assuredly  like  to  do,  in 
your  interest  as  well  as  their  own,  is  dependent  very  largely  upon  the 
support  which  they  receive  from  the  people  of  the  South.  They  are 
operating  under  a system  of  public  regulation  which  has  gone  further 
into  detail  of  absolute  statute  law  than  any  system  of  public  regulation, 
even  of  the  activities  of  government  itself,  which  the  world  has  ever 
known.  Thus  far  this  regulation  has  been  concerned  principally  with 
the  correction  of  abuses  which  had  grown  up  in  former  times  and  the 


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enforcement  of  the  obligations  of  the  railroads.  Whether  it  shall 
take  cognizance  also  of  the  needs  of  the  railroads  in  their  relation  to 
the  development  of  the  country  is  dependent  upon  public  opinion. 

The  general  discussion  for  several  years  past  of  the  affairs  of  the 
railroads  and  of  their  relations  to  the  public  has  been  of  great  educational 
value.  Railroad  managers  and  employees  appreciate  better  than  ever 
before  their  duties  to  the  public,  and  the  American  people  more  clearly 
understand  their  interest  in  efficient  railroads.  Because  of  the  fact  that 
a railroad  is  a public  highway  on  which  all  travelers  and  shippers  should 
have  equal  rights,  under  similar  circumstances  and  conditions,  and 
because  operating  conditions  are  such  that  a single  company  must  exercise 
a monopoly  of  transportation  over  it,  public  regulation  is  sound  in  princi- 
ple, and,  under  American  conditions,  I believe  is  much  to  be  preferred 
to  either  unrestricted  private  control  or  government  ownership  and  | 
operation.  Having  faith  in  the  fairness  of  the  American  people,  I am  1 
confident  that  we  shall  work  out  a system  of  regulation  that  will  be 
just,  both  to  the  public  and  to  the  railroads.  Such  a system,  if  it  is 
to  be  in  the  highest  degree  successful,  will  leave  to  the  managers  of 
railway  property  the  largest  measure  of  discretion  and  the  widest  oppor- 
tunity for  initiative  consistent  with  the  prevention  of  abuses,  and,  while 
guarding  against  charges  that  are  exorbitant  or  unreasonably  high  as 
measured  by  the  service  performed,  will  recognize  that  the  paramount 
interest  of  the  public  is  in  efficiency  of  service  and  that  this  can  only 
be  secured  by  an  adjustment  of  charges  for  service  which  will  leave 
to  the  carriers  a fair  margin  of  profit  over  the  costs  of  operation  and  J 
will  attract  to  railroad  investments  the  new  capital  that  will  be  needed 
from  time  to  time  if  facilities  are  to  be  kept  fully  abreast  of  the  growing 
demand  for  transportation. 

It  has  been  my  duty  and  my  privilege  to  study  the  agricultural  and  : 
industrial  progress  of  the  South  in  relation  to  transportation,  and,  in 
asking  the  Southern  people  to  become  active  and  militant  advocates  of 
public  policies  that  will  be  just  and  fair  to  the  railroads,  I believe  that 
I am  speaking  in  their  interest  no  less  than  in  that  of  the  railroads  of 
the  South.  Looking  back  over  what  has  been  accomplished  by  the 
people  of  Anderson  and  Anderson  County  and  realizing  the  part  that 
transportation  has  played  in  your  past  progress,  I predict  with  confidence 
that  we  shall  have  such  effective  and  mutually  helpful  co-operation 
between  this  community  and  the  railroads  by  which  it  is  served  as  will  ij 
insure  your  continued  progress  and  ever  increasing  prosperity. 


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